Biography
Yvette Soliz Rivers was the first in her family to graduate from high school and is deeply grateful for Yale's impact on her life. Her Mexican-American mother dropped out of high school to pick cotton and help her family make ends meet. Her Irish-American father quit school in tenth grade, and her three sisters all dropped out of high school when they got pregnant. To go from being an impoverished child — begging for food, living in shelters and foster homes — to enjoying the privileged existence a Yale education brings has given her a strong desire to give back to Yale and its community of students and alumni.
After graduating from Yale College in 1996 with a B.A. in Sociology, Rivers intended to pursue a nonprofit career, but soon changed to a more lucrative one so that she could help her family. After earning an MBA from George Washington University, she established a successful career in IT management consulting. In the past 25 years, she has held various roles from Project/Program Manager to Director and Vice President, all the while helping clients optimize performance and mitigate the risks of large and complex information system efforts.
Rivers started her alumni service 2017 with the Yale Club of Washington, DC, where she has served as a board member, Yale Day of Service site coordinator, vice president of programming, and president. To date she has organized nearly 60 alumni events, and has served as a co-leader for 1stGenYale's DC Chapter. She also volunteers for the Yale Latino Alumni Network.
